OUR SOCIAL MISSION
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Our task as a parish community is ‘to make the Kingdom of God present in our world’’ (Pope Francis). We are called to embody Christ-like love for all, and especially to those who are poor or excluded or face injustice. Our concern is both for those in our own community and for our wider society and our global community.
Across the Catholic Parish of Guildford, there are many groups and activities that take forward this aspect of living our Catholic faith. All groups welcome new members. Some are shared with other Christians and neighbours locally. |
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Day for Life
The focus of this year’s Day for Life on 19 June is caring for and valuing the elderly. As described in the Bishops’ Conference Day for Life message. You can support this and other Day for Life initiatives upholding the dignity of every human life from conception to natural end by making a secure donation HERE. Alternatively financial support for Life charity can be provided by donating HERE.
Supported by The Catholic Parish of Guildford
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The Parish is a strong supporter of CAFOD, the official Catholic aid agency. You can find out more about CAFOD’s work HERE. There are CAFOD representatives in our Parish community who help to organise the Family Fast Days in each church in Lent and at Harvest time. We also participate in their campaigns and use their resources for prayer and reflection.
Recent events Recently the Parish supported a number of fundraising activities, including events supporting Ukraine and the Lent Family Fast Day Appeal. |
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Upcoming Campaign
CAFOD is launching a new campaign
Details of how CPG will be invited to participate will be published in the CPG NewsLetter |
"We need a new mindset and a new holistic approach and to design food systems that protect the Earth and keep the dignity of the human person at the centre; that guarantee sufficient food globally and promote decent work locally; and that feed the world today, without compromising the future." Pope Francis |
A&B CAFOD office
We are fortunate to be able to provide operating space in the St Pius office for the A&B CAFOD office.
CAFOD in Arundel & Brighton
Volunteer Centre
St Pius X Church, Laustan Close, Merrow, Guildford, Surrey GU2 2TS
Telephone: 01483 573273
Mobile: 07710 094448
Email: arundelandbrighton@cafod.org.uk
If you are interested in generally volunteering for CAFOD, click HERE for further information or contact the office.
Schools
Our local Catholic schools are enthusiastic and creative supporters of CAFOD. There is an urgent need to engage additional visitors to schools to encourage young people to get involved in CAFOD’s work. Are you looking for a new challenge? Could you visit schools in your local area to deliver assemblies and workshops about CAFOD’s work and encourage young people to take action, fundraise and pray with CAFOD? No experience is necessary. Full support, resources and regular training will be provided. For further details contact the Volunteer Centre.
CAFOD’s work
CAFOD’s range of actions is constantly changing as, with its partners, it responds to new needs arising around the world, especially when crises demand the urgent provision of humanitarian aid or other relief. To get information on current campaigns and other activities visit the website regularly for news or sign up HERE to receive newsletters by email.
If you have any questions about CAFOD, please contact Stephen Rowden at srowden@cafod.org.uk or on 07899 804211.
We are fortunate to be able to provide operating space in the St Pius office for the A&B CAFOD office.
CAFOD in Arundel & Brighton
Volunteer Centre
St Pius X Church, Laustan Close, Merrow, Guildford, Surrey GU2 2TS
Telephone: 01483 573273
Mobile: 07710 094448
Email: arundelandbrighton@cafod.org.uk
If you are interested in generally volunteering for CAFOD, click HERE for further information or contact the office.
Schools
Our local Catholic schools are enthusiastic and creative supporters of CAFOD. There is an urgent need to engage additional visitors to schools to encourage young people to get involved in CAFOD’s work. Are you looking for a new challenge? Could you visit schools in your local area to deliver assemblies and workshops about CAFOD’s work and encourage young people to take action, fundraise and pray with CAFOD? No experience is necessary. Full support, resources and regular training will be provided. For further details contact the Volunteer Centre.
CAFOD’s work
CAFOD’s range of actions is constantly changing as, with its partners, it responds to new needs arising around the world, especially when crises demand the urgent provision of humanitarian aid or other relief. To get information on current campaigns and other activities visit the website regularly for news or sign up HERE to receive newsletters by email.
If you have any questions about CAFOD, please contact Stephen Rowden at srowden@cafod.org.uk or on 07899 804211.
Support For Refugees
The CPG Refugee Support Fund (RSF) was established in 2019 to respond to the call of Pope Francis to Action. Below you will find information about the Fund’s activities and its aspirations for future action.
The Friends of the RSF (see more below) was inaugurated in 2021. Everyone is welcome to join this group to receive information about current activities by email and potential volunteering.
Background
For several years, following the refugee crisis in 2015, a group of parishioners have held fundraising dinners to provide support for refugees, particularly from Syria, to be resettled under the Government Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. Guildford Borough Council administers the Scheme locally and provides certain financial and other support.
Although eight families have been resettled in Guildford under the Scheme between 2016 and 2018, the Council decided that it no longer had sufficient funds available to increase the number of refugees that it could support.
Accordingly, the CPG Refugee Support Fund was formally set up for the purpose of providing direct financial support to refugees currently settled in the Borough. The Fund works closely with the Anglican Diocese of Guildford which has played a major role in ministering to the needs of the refugee families who have settled in the area.
Recent fundraising and expenditure
From 2018 to 2021, from various functions and activities a total of £5,727 has been raised for use in the Fund’s support activities.
Over the same period £4,041 has been spent in supporting the Syrian families in providing basic items needed for family life, particularly in supplying items of children's clothing and footwear. More recently we have provided some support for the Afghan families who have resettled here.
What next for the RSF?
The CPG Refugee Support Fund intends to
A scheme to assist the resettlement of refugees was launched by the Home Office in 2016 under which community groups undertake to resettle and support a family for a minimum of two years. CPG has joined forces with two Anglican Parishes in the area to undertake a CSP. A team has been formed to run the project. A wider group of volunteers will be needed to provide on-going support to the family.
During the coming weeks, we will be making the necessary arrangements with Guildford Borough Council, Surrey County Council and the Home Office to receive a family. A property has been found in Guildford which the Council will be asked to approve. Once that has been done we will apply to the Home Office who will allocate a family to us. The family could come from any number of different countries. We hope to welcome the family by the end of the summer and join the ever-growing number of CSP’s across the country.
We have the minimum funding required to apply to the Home Office which is £9000. The RSF will make a contribution towards this as will the other Parishes. Further funds may well be needed during the two-year period.
Syrian families
It is envisaged that calls for funds will diminish over time but for now the intention is to continue support for four Syrian families during the remainder of the period of their inclusion in the Scheme which ends in 2023.
Afghan families
There are currently two Government schemes
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was established in April before the crisis of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is intended to assist those who worked for the Government alongside our armed forces. So far GBC has found homes for 2 families, who have arrived and we have already provided some support for them.
Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) was established in September in the wake of the withdrawal crisis. The intention was to resettle 20,000 of those evacuated, with some 5,000 in the first year. So far GBC has not taken in any families on this scheme.
Homes for Ukraine
A number of parishioners have asked about how to register their interest in taking in a family fleeing the war and how to get advice on what is required. You can register your interest with Reset UK and they will match you and your property with Ukrainian families wishing to come to the UK. They will also provide advice. Reset is an organisation with several years’ experience of training and supporting Community Support Groups in the UK and they are now offering this new service.
A new website has recently been set up to provide advice and guidance to families hosting Ukrainian families and to the families themselves. Enquiries can be made to here
Friends of the RSF
An email group has been established to keep interested parishioners informed about refugee support locally, in particular the work of the RSF and the CSP. We like to think of them as the “Friends of the RSF”.
From time to time, volunteers are needed to provide support in various ways. Fundraising events also take place. The bulletins will inform the “Friends” of these.
As is usual, there would be the ability to unsubscribe from the email list of the Friends at any time – and to come back!
If you would like to be a “Friend”, contact Catherine and Alan Hughes on via the parish office
The Friends of the RSF (see more below) was inaugurated in 2021. Everyone is welcome to join this group to receive information about current activities by email and potential volunteering.
Background
For several years, following the refugee crisis in 2015, a group of parishioners have held fundraising dinners to provide support for refugees, particularly from Syria, to be resettled under the Government Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. Guildford Borough Council administers the Scheme locally and provides certain financial and other support.
Although eight families have been resettled in Guildford under the Scheme between 2016 and 2018, the Council decided that it no longer had sufficient funds available to increase the number of refugees that it could support.
Accordingly, the CPG Refugee Support Fund was formally set up for the purpose of providing direct financial support to refugees currently settled in the Borough. The Fund works closely with the Anglican Diocese of Guildford which has played a major role in ministering to the needs of the refugee families who have settled in the area.
Recent fundraising and expenditure
From 2018 to 2021, from various functions and activities a total of £5,727 has been raised for use in the Fund’s support activities.
Over the same period £4,041 has been spent in supporting the Syrian families in providing basic items needed for family life, particularly in supplying items of children's clothing and footwear. More recently we have provided some support for the Afghan families who have resettled here.
What next for the RSF?
The CPG Refugee Support Fund intends to
- - Support the Community Sponsorship Project which has recently started.
- - Continue to support the Syrian families remaining on the scheme in Guildford
- - Continue to support the Afghan families who arrived in Guildford this year.
A scheme to assist the resettlement of refugees was launched by the Home Office in 2016 under which community groups undertake to resettle and support a family for a minimum of two years. CPG has joined forces with two Anglican Parishes in the area to undertake a CSP. A team has been formed to run the project. A wider group of volunteers will be needed to provide on-going support to the family.
During the coming weeks, we will be making the necessary arrangements with Guildford Borough Council, Surrey County Council and the Home Office to receive a family. A property has been found in Guildford which the Council will be asked to approve. Once that has been done we will apply to the Home Office who will allocate a family to us. The family could come from any number of different countries. We hope to welcome the family by the end of the summer and join the ever-growing number of CSP’s across the country.
We have the minimum funding required to apply to the Home Office which is £9000. The RSF will make a contribution towards this as will the other Parishes. Further funds may well be needed during the two-year period.
Syrian families
It is envisaged that calls for funds will diminish over time but for now the intention is to continue support for four Syrian families during the remainder of the period of their inclusion in the Scheme which ends in 2023.
Afghan families
There are currently two Government schemes
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was established in April before the crisis of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is intended to assist those who worked for the Government alongside our armed forces. So far GBC has found homes for 2 families, who have arrived and we have already provided some support for them.
Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) was established in September in the wake of the withdrawal crisis. The intention was to resettle 20,000 of those evacuated, with some 5,000 in the first year. So far GBC has not taken in any families on this scheme.
Homes for Ukraine
A number of parishioners have asked about how to register their interest in taking in a family fleeing the war and how to get advice on what is required. You can register your interest with Reset UK and they will match you and your property with Ukrainian families wishing to come to the UK. They will also provide advice. Reset is an organisation with several years’ experience of training and supporting Community Support Groups in the UK and they are now offering this new service.
A new website has recently been set up to provide advice and guidance to families hosting Ukrainian families and to the families themselves. Enquiries can be made to here
Friends of the RSF
An email group has been established to keep interested parishioners informed about refugee support locally, in particular the work of the RSF and the CSP. We like to think of them as the “Friends of the RSF”.
From time to time, volunteers are needed to provide support in various ways. Fundraising events also take place. The bulletins will inform the “Friends” of these.
As is usual, there would be the ability to unsubscribe from the email list of the Friends at any time – and to come back!
If you would like to be a “Friend”, contact Catherine and Alan Hughes on via the parish office
Support for Fairtrade and Framers in Palestine
CPG strives to be a Fair Trade Parish. Volunteers work hard to encourage people to buy fairly traded goods, because Fair Trade helps people in poverty to earn their way to a better life, and reduces the need for aid.
During the covid-19 pandemic we have been operating an online sales facility by email for the sale of Traidcraft and Zaytoun goods within our area. Each month Grace Bradley and Michael Combes send an email to a number of parishioners and others giving an opportunity to buy these goods.
Grace receives orders order from customers and places an order with Traidcraft for requested items. Michael carries a stock of a range of Zaytoun olive oils and other items which are available for sale according to a published price list. Deliveries to customers are normally made within one week of their placing their requests. Payment is made in cash or by online bank transfer.
If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be included please email the office office@cpg.church. You can leave the mailing list at any time.
You can find out more about Traidcraft goods here and about the Fair Trade Foundation here. Information about Zaytoun products can be found here.
During the covid-19 pandemic we have been operating an online sales facility by email for the sale of Traidcraft and Zaytoun goods within our area. Each month Grace Bradley and Michael Combes send an email to a number of parishioners and others giving an opportunity to buy these goods.
Grace receives orders order from customers and places an order with Traidcraft for requested items. Michael carries a stock of a range of Zaytoun olive oils and other items which are available for sale according to a published price list. Deliveries to customers are normally made within one week of their placing their requests. Payment is made in cash or by online bank transfer.
If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be included please email the office office@cpg.church. You can leave the mailing list at any time.
You can find out more about Traidcraft goods here and about the Fair Trade Foundation here. Information about Zaytoun products can be found here.
CPG 10% CHARITY APPEAL
In the period leading up to Christmas in 2021 the annual Appeal took place across CPG to assist smaller, less well-known charities whose aim is to support the Poorest of the Poor. The total amount raised in the Appeal was £7,200, including an amount of Gift Aid attributable to qualifying donations.
PAX CHRISTI
(THE CATHOLIC INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR PEACE)
The main source of income for Pax Christi comes from the retiring collection on Peace Sunday in January each year. Pax Christi is a non-profit, unincorporated membership organisation. As a membership and campaigning organisation, it chooses not to be a charity so does not benefit from government schemes such as Gift Aid. This makes donations all the more important. CPG held a collection for Pax Christi on Peace Sunday.
To support Pax Christi further please click HERE.
www.paxchristi.org.uk , Tel: +44 (0)20 8203 4884, E-mail: info@paxchristi.org.uk
To support Pax Christi further please click HERE.
www.paxchristi.org.uk , Tel: +44 (0)20 8203 4884, E-mail: info@paxchristi.org.uk
CARJ
(CATHOLIC ASSOCATION FOR RACIAL JUSTICE)
Racial Justice Sunday was observed this year on 13 February. CARJ is an independent charity, established in 1984, working to support people from diverse backgrounds. Core objectives and activities are:
- support for and empowerment of black and minority ethnic Catholics and to give them an effective voice in the Church and in the wider society;
- supporting people from diverse backgrounds in the struggle for a more just and cohesive society;
- supporting black and minority ethnic young people through a Schools Project and Young People’s Forum for World Citizenship.
- working with Catholic Dioceses and Parishes in a range of activities.